Chapter 5

Sansa Stark POV

It's Saturday, and it's the start of Labor Day weekend. I'm glad it's a long weekend, but I still have cheer practice on Monday.

Arya and I are chilling in our room on Saturday when there's a knock at the door. "Come in," Arya says. My mom walks in and stands in the doorway. "What's up mom?"

"Jon and Dany are on their way," my mom says. "We want to have a family dinner tonight since your dad and I have to work the rest of the weekend."

"Can I invite Gendry?" Arya asks.

"Sure," my mom says. "Bran's inviting a friend too."

"Who?" I ask.

"Meera," my mom says. "You know, Jojen's sister."

"Is he also inviting Jojen?" I ask.

"No," she says. "Just Meera. We'll be eating at 6:30." She walks out of our room and shuts the door behind her.

"I didn't know Bran was that close with Meera," Arya says after mom walks out of the room. "If he has friends over, it's usually just Jojen and sometimes Lyanna."

"Maybe this is something different," I say, chuckling.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, maybe they're more than just friends."

"I doubt that," Arya says. "I bet not."

"Well, you never know," I say. "Let's keep an eye on them tonight, it'll be fun."

"Okay," Arya says, laughing. "You're on."

…

We go downstairs after Jon and Dany arrive and dinner is ready. We start making our plates and sit down at the table when Gendry knocks at the door. Arya opens the door and gives him a hug, he goes into the kitchen to quickly make a plate. Jon looks at me in confusion.

"Are they back together?" He whispers to me. I just nod.

"Yeah," I whisper. "Arya didn't know how to tell you, please don't be mad."

Gendry and Arya sit back down, Gendry is avoiding eye contact with Jon. "Hey," Jon says to Gendry. "Good to see you, I didn't know you were back with Arya."

"Yeah," Gendry says. "We got back together at the end of the summer, please don't murder me."

"I won't," Jon says. "But I will beat the life out of you if you do anything to her, that still stands."

"Okay," Gendry says. "Deal."

"Sansa," Dany says to me. "What's it like being cheer captain, do you like it?"

"I love it," I say. "I'm so happy I got it, I wanted it so bad."

"It's a lot of work, isn't it?" Dany asks me.

"Yeah," I respond. "But I think I can handle it."

"I'll give you some pointers later if you want," Dany says. "I learned a thing or two when I was cheer captain."

"Sure," I say. "That would be helpful." I really mean that. Dany was a great cheer captain, I could use her advice.

I look across the table, and Bran and Meera are whispering and having a side conversation. I see Bran reach for Meera's hand and she gives it a squeeze, thinking no one saw that. They're obviously dating, or he at least likes her. I look over at Arya and she's trying not to laugh. I'll make sure to make fun of Bran later and let him know he's not slick.

Arya Stark POV

Bran and his little girlfriend are so cute. We know Meera, Bran is really close friends with her brother Jojen and they grew up together. I know he doesn't want to call her his girlfriend or make it obvious, but he's doing a bad job at being discreet. He's 13, so that's to be expected.

Gendry and I walk outside after dinner to smoke, we sneak behind a tree in the backyard. "Are you sure this is okay?" Gendry asks me. "I wouldn't want you to get into trouble."

"My parents won't come out here," I say. "Plus, they're busy cleaning up and grilling Dany and Jon about college life."

As we light up a couple cigarettes and start smoking, I hear giggling and talking coming closer to us. I whip my head around, I'm on guard because I don't want my parents to catch me smoking. When I look, I see Meera leaning against our shed and Bran in front of her. They start kissing and I clear my throat loudly so they stop and look at us.

"Excuse me," I call out. "What are you two doing?" Gendry is trying not to laugh.

"What are you doing?" Bran asks me.

"That's not what we're talking about," I respond. "I asked you first."

"We're just hanging out," he says. "I didn't know you were out here."

"Are you guys dating? What's going on?"

"None of your business, Arya." He's getting defensive and embarassed, Meera is blushing so hard.

"I saw you guys giggling and whispering during dinner, you're not fooling anyone," I say. "Plus, what do you expect mom and dad to think is happening when you bring a girl home for dinner?"

Bran pauses, I think he sees what I mean. He isn't the first of us siblings to try to sneak a significant other around. "Please don't tell mom and dad," he says more quietly. "And leave us alone."

"Fine," I say, putting out my cigarette. "But you can't tell them we were smoking."

"Whatever," he says. "I won't."

"Be careful," I say to him. "That's all I'll say."

"Shut up!" He calls after me as Gendry and I walk out from the backyard fence, I give Bran the finger as we walk out.

"How do you feel about Bran having a girlfriend?" Gendry asks me as we start walking around the block.

"It's cute," I say. "He probably thinks he's some stud now, it's so lame. I'm happy for him, and he's been friends with Meera's brother for years. She's really cool, I feel like he's had a crush on her for a while and has just started talking about her more."

"How old is Bran now?"

"He's 13," I say. "He just started 8th grade."

"I remember being that age," Gendry says. "I thought it was so cool if you got a girl to want to kiss you."

"When did you have your first kiss?"

"The summer before 9th grade," he says. "I was almost 15, and I had a little summer fling when I was at camp."

"Aw, that's adorable," I say. "You know you were my first kiss."

"I'm glad I was," he says. "I know you're quite a bit younger than me, but it doesn't feel that way."

"It really doesn't," I say. "I'm glad Jon didn't take our relationship as badly this time."

"Yeah," he says. "I'm just glad he isn't trying to beat me up anymore and we can still be civil to each other."

"I still think he isn't happy about it."

"And I still don't care what he thinks."

We take a walk for a while, it's still light outside. My parents won't start worrying about us until it gets dark. If Bran tells them I was smoking, I'm going to tell them he was kissing Meera by the shed. My brothers may annoy me all the time, but I still love them. I can tell Rickon is jealous Bran has a girlfriend, whatever girlfriend even means in the 8th grade. It's funny to watch, but it's weird to see my brothers getting older.

Jon Snow Stark POV

I had no idea Gendry and Arya were back together. I'm not happy about it, but I'm not going to cut him off completely or threaten to beat him up this time. On top of that, I've been thinking about my own life a lot and that's stressful. So much is going on right now, I'm not sure how to handle it.

I don't know where all my siblings went, and Dany is talking to Sansa so I want to give them some time together. I walk outside and sit on the front porch, it's not long before my dad walks out and sits next to me.

"Hey," he says. "How's living with Dany?"

"It's great," I say. "I'm glad I transferred, I don't regret it."

"I'm really glad," my dad says. "I was honestly kind of worried you would."

"I don't," I say. "I like living with Dany and being at her school, I decided to be a film major."

"Oh awesome," he says. "I think that's a great idea." There's a pause, there's something I really want to bring up with my dad.

"Can I ask you something, dad?" I ask.

"Of course, Jon," he says. "What's up?"

"I think I want to start looking for my mom," I say. I've been terrified to say that, but I respect my dad a lot and I figured he should know. "Can you at least give me her name?"

"Jon," my dad says. "We've been over this, that really isn't necessary. You have a good life with us, and it would just upset your mother."

"Can you at least tell me anything about her?" I ask. I'm not letting this go, he's dodged these questions enough. "Can you tell me what hospital I was born at, or give me any place to start?"

My dad takes a deep breath. "I honestly didn't think you would ever try to find your mom," he says. "Maybe that was naive of me, but I think it's time to at least tell you part of the truth."

My heart is pounding, I was starting to think I'd never get any answers directly from my dad.

"What is part of the truth?"

"Your mother is dead," my dad says. "She died shortly after you were born."

There's a long pause, that's honestly one of the last things I expected to hear. I figured she might be married with another family, or on drugs or maybe my dad didn't even know where she was. I didn't expect this.

"How do you know?" I ask.

"I got the call a few days after she dropped you off," my dad says. "I didn't know how to tell you, I didn't think I'd ever have to."

"You didn't think I'd ever ask questions?" I ask, I'm starting to get angry. "You didn't think I'd ever want to meet her?"

"I was hoping you'd never know about how you came into this world," he says. "Unfortunately, your mom made sure that wasn't the case."

I'm speechless, I really have no idea what to say. "How do I even know you're telling the truth?" I ask. "How do I know you're not just saying that so that I won't try and look for her?"

"You just have to believe me," he says. "Remember when I said I never worried your mom would try to come back and have a relationship with you?"

"Yeah, I do."

"I said that because I knew she was dead," he says. "I just didn't know how to tell you."

"How did she die?"

"When she dropped you off, she and a friend were on the way to the hospital because she was bleeding. She had given birth to you at home a few days before and was feeling really bad. It turns out she had an infection, and they couldn't save her."

For some reason, I believe him. My dad has never outright lied to me about my situation that I know of, so I have no reason to doubt it. I don't want to believe it, but I really don't have a reason not to. I'm just really upset.

"I'm going to stay at Dany's place tonight," I say, getting up. "I can't be here."

"Jon, wait," my dad says, following me into the house. "Can we please talk?"

"I can't do this," I say, grabbing a change of clothes from my room and finding Dany in Sansa's room. I knock on the door and Sansa says to come in. "Dany, we're leaving. I'm staying with you tonight."

Dany looks confused, but gets up. "Bye," she whispers to Sansa, shrugging. I think they can tell something's up. "Okay, that's fine."

She gets up and heads out the door with me. My dad is calling after me, but I'm ignoring him. My mom comes out of the kitchen and starts asking him what's going on, but I close the door behind me before I can hear his response.

"Are you okay?" Dany asks me as we get into her car.

"No," I say. "But we can talk about it when we get to the house."

She starts driving, and we sit in silence on the way to her place. I don't know if I should cry, or yell, or if I even have a right to be angry at all. I'm mad at my dad for not telling me this information sooner, because now I don't know how to process it.

I always had an image of my mom, I always thought I would meet her one day. My dad never made me think she was dead, just that she didn't want me. Now I have to mourn the loss of this person that I didn't even know was gone this whole time.

Daenerys Targaryen POV

We're driving towards my place in silence, and I stop the car when we pull into the driveway. "Jon, I need you to tell me what's going on," I say. "Please talk to me."

"Can we just go inside?" He asks me.

"We can," I say. "But I don't know if my dad is there, so I just wanted to warn you."

He takes a deep breath. "My dad told me my biological mother is dead," Jon says. "Apparently she's been dead this whole time."

"What? What do you mean this whole time?"

"He said she died shortly after I was born," he says. "But he's just now telling me."

"I'm so sorry Jon," I say. "I understand why you wanted to leave, let's go inside and we can talk about it."

We go inside, and luckily my dad isn't home. We go into my room and lay in bed together. I feel terrible for Jon, I wish I could help him get through this even though there really isn't much that I can say.

"So how did that come up?" I ask him as we're cuddling.

"I was telling him that I wanted to try and find my mom," he says. "I've been thinking about it for a while, and I thought he should know. I was also hoping he could maybe give me a place to start with looking."

"And that's when he said she died?"

"Well, first he tried to convince me not to look for her. Then he said she died right after I was born."

"Do you believe that?" I ask after a pause.

"I didn't at first," Jon says. "But a while back, my dad did tell me that he wasn't worried that she would come back and try to have a relationship with me. I asked him and that was his response, I think he wasn't worried because he knew she was dead."

"I'm so sorry, babe," I say. "I wish I could say something better."

"It's just really hard for me," he says. "I wish my dad had told me sooner."

"I bet," I say. "My mom died shortly after I was born too, but I always knew that. I can't imagine thinking she was alive my whole life and then finding out that was never the case."

"I used to think about her all the time, especially when I was younger," he says. "I used to dream about her coming back and wanting a relationship with me, and sometimes I would be angry that she never came back. Turns out, she was gone the whole time."

I don't respond for a while, I wish I knew how to comfort him better. "Do you resent your dad for having an affair?"

"Yes and no," Jon says. "If he didn't, I wouldn't be here. I am glad I'm here, but I wish I could've been born to the same two parents as my siblings. Growing up was really hard."

I know his mom has always resented him for being the product of his dad's affair, and I've never thought that was fair. It's not Jon's fault that's how he was born, he was just an innocent baby.

"You know I love you no matter what, right?" I ask him.

"I love you more," he says. "You know that, right?"

"Definitely not," I say. "I promise we'll make our own family."

"You know I'll never do what my dad did, right?"

"I know," I say. "You wouldn't dare."

We eventually fall asleep, and I'm just so upset this happened. I hope Jon can find a way to move on, I think building our life together will really help that. I know what it's like to grow up without a mom, but I can't imagine thinking she abandoned me and then finding out that wasn't the case. That would make me question everything.